This report profiles Singapore’s property industry, covering market data and trends through 2015. The report also highlights leading players in the sector including CapitaLand Ltd, City Developments Ltd and UOL Ltd.

Singapore’s economy is forecast to grow at a slower rate of 2.0-2.5% over the rest of 2015, weighed down by the sluggishness of the global economy that is likely to impact external demand and property market rentals.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) statistics showed Singapore property prices cooled down after the implementation of several rounds of curb measures. Investment sentiments particularly among foreign buyers in the high-end residential segment have taken a beating due to the property cooling measures. The latest round of cooling measures is also making borrowing more difficult. Despite growth in the number of transactions, the overall vacancy of the residential market grew in 2015. Rentals in the commercial segments also saw a decline due to higher vacancy rates

However, multinational corporations continue to seek quality office space in Singapore, as it remains an attractive business gateway to Asia amid a low interest rate environment. Retail market is also expected to remain stable backed by a high occupancy rate.

Key Points:

• According to the URA, there were a total of 322,149 residential properties available in the pipeline as of September 2015. Meanwhile, the vacancy rate of private residential units increased from 6.1% in Q3/2013 to 7.8% in Q3/2015

• Singapore office market continued to expand in Q3/2015 with a 2.3% y/y increase in supply. URA statistics showed that the island-wide office occupancy rate declined from 91.6% in Q3/2014 to 90.4% in Q3/2015 due to more supply.

• The property price index for private residential units declined by 4% y/y in Q3/2015. The property rental index also decreased by 4% y/y as against last year’s figure.